


Together and Apart

by sandstonepebbles



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Bad Decisions, Betrayal, Loss of Control, M/M, Self-Hatred, Sibling Incest, Sibling Rivalry, Unreliable Narrator
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-27
Updated: 2018-05-27
Packaged: 2019-05-14 14:40:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14771580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sandstonepebbles/pseuds/sandstonepebbles
Summary: Hanzo Shimada wants order and peace above all else. His brother wants none of these things. Their father believes that Genji and Hanzo are stronger together. Hanzo has to find a way to get his brother back on the right path, even if Genji doesn't agree.





	Together and Apart

**Author's Note:**

> Hanzo and Genji make a lot of bad decisions in this story trying to be true to themselves. And it's canon-compliant at that.

Hanzo watched his brother practice. Genji, light on his feet, moved quickly and elegantly through his exercises, each movement smooth as silk, graceful and efficient, muscles rippling, his katana slicing through the air. Hanzo had not expected to find his brother in the gym this morning. He was inconsistent in his practice and frankly lazy. But today he was a joy and a wonder to watch.

Genji finished his routine and turned with a smile to Hanzo. “Hanzo!” he exclaimed. “I’m surprised to see you here.”

“I’m always here at this time,” Hanzo replied. He bit his tongue before reminding Genji about the benefits of regular practice. Or ordered him to towel off the thin sheen of sweat on his bare chest and arms. 

“Sword or bow?” Genji asked. “I could set up your targets if --”

“Yes. Do that.” 

Genji pulled out the rack of target boards for Hanzo. Hanzo thought he had long gotten over his vague resentment that Genji had been the one blessed with height and pleasing physique. Now he was reminded of his squatness and barrel chest and the few gray hairs on his temples.

“There. All set up.” Genji pulled on a shirt and gathered up his things.

Hanzo should ask him to stay. It had been a year or more since they trained together. Once they had been inseparable in all areas of their lives, bringing joy to their parents. But they drifted apart around the time Genji started dyeing his hair green. “You will be ready for tonight?” he said instead.

“I have some errands for Father this afternoon,” Genji said. “I would not miss your engagement party.” He thumped Hanzo’s back. 

Hanzo gave Genji a critical look, lingering over the faded green in his hair. “I hope that your appearance will be appropriate.”

Genji stepped back as his shoulders slumped a little. “I promise to not embarrass you. I know how important today is to you and …. the clan, father.”

~~~~~

Hanzo waited quietly for his father to make the announcement. He knew how to be patient and to be respective and to be the dutiful son. Not so much his brother, sitting at another table and laughing it up with the younger members of the family. This was a formal dinner at the best hotel in Hanamura with the two purposes of announcing Hanzo’s engagement and reveling in family tradition and strength.

Genji had at least dyed his hair black since the morning, erasing the green highlights, and dressed appropriately for once in a conservative black suit. His very presence got under Hanzo’s skin. Hanzo wrenched his attention away from the aggravating Genji to his calm and well behaved wife-to-be. Hinata, daughter of another yakuza family, was sitting demurely with her sisters and aunts. 

Hanzo smiled at her, drawing his strength and calm from the orderly dinner. There was a rhythm to it all and it sustains him and gives his extended family peace to know that he is doing his duty to the next generation of the Shimada clan. Marriage, sons, growth and order. Hinata dipped her head in recognition of his approval. 

Good, it was all good. 

Except for Genji.

Hanzo wasn’t immune to the contrasts of his violent life with the calm and peace of the outside world around him. But he would argue if asked that the only difference between him and the salarymen in the streets was in the nature of his employment. His life was built from the same self-control, honor, dedication to family and loyalty that any other person had.

Not his brother, Genji. He had no loyalty or discipline in his bones. He cared nothing for the ancient Shimada clan, only for the shiny, new and neon.

Hanzo hated and despised him. They had starting going their different ways once they were teenagers and love and fondness for their shared childhood made Hanzo tolerate Genji’s eccentricities and failures. But since their mother died from cancer three years ago, Hanzo could see Genji’s faults far more clearly for what they were. If Genji continued on this path, he’d endanger the family.

What opened Hanzo’s eyes was that dinner party Genji threw for their mother after the diagnosis. Nothing fancy, Genji promised as they drove to a rented traditional mansion. But, no, it was a goddamned production -- Genji had arranged for a troupe of geisha to host and entertain at dinner. Their mother was overjoyed with the whole ordeal from dinner to the music and their father could not stop smiling at her joy. She had gone to university to study Japanese culture and had spent her life trying to preserve historical landmarks. Their mother’s love of the traditional cast a long long shadow over her children’s lives, starting with their old fashioned names.

Flashy, over-the-top, extravagant described Genji perfectly. He didn’t go home with Hanzo or their parents -- he left the rented house in his bright green supercar, off to a new club in Tokyo. It got under Hanzo’s skin for days as their mother repeatedly talked about that night. An afterthought for Genji who probably only did it to distract from his failures in the family business.

Hanzo was the most loyal and dedicated of Sojiro’s sons and the perfect oyabun in waiting. He glanced over at his father, commanding, proud and full of health, even in his early fifties. Sojiro would live for a long time, ruling over the Shimada, relying on his first-born son, and training his grandchildren.

After dinner had ended and Hanzo had said good night to his guests, he found his brother studying the empty glass Genji was rolling between his hands at the hotel bar. “Want a drink?” he asked without looking up.

“No.” Hanzo would be leaving soon to oversee the transport of an important arms shipment. He didn’t entirely trust the men dispatched to provide security. 

Genji nodded. Hanzo was briefly tempted to ask Genji to come with him. Despite his laziness and lack of disciplined training, Genji was still easily one of the Shimada clan’s best fighters. And admittedly, Hanzo missed working with him. 

Then Genji turned and leaned his back against the bar. “Hanzo. Are you sure about this?”

“It’s a shipment.”

“No. The marriage -- you don’t have to go through with it.”

“Ah.” 

Genji ran a hand down his face and looked down at the floor as if it held all the mystery in the world, avoiding Hanzo. “You’re only getting married to make the family happy.”

“That’s enough.”

“But what about you? What about her? It’s fine now -- what about five years from now or twenty? Shouldn’t you be happy too? Shouldn’t she?” Genji smiled thinly at Hanzo, looking for approval or acknowledgement or something, anything from Hanzo.

If the clan was happy, Hanzo was happy. Individual needs were not important and undermined the cohesion of the clan. “Don’t you have work?”

Tension seeped out of Genji as he stood up. “I’m going to a club. See you in the morning.”

Hanzo grabbed Genji’s arm as his brother attempted to pass by him. “You. Don’t embarrass the family.”

Genji rolled his eyes. “I know better than to be arrested drunk in a gutter.”

No, you don’t, Hanzo thought but kept his thoughts to himself.

~~~~~

Hanzo didn’t see his brother at all the next day or the day after that. That was the usual thing with Genji. Genji had his own work and he was likely laying low after Sojiro had been made aware of some compromising photographs involving Genji. Sojiro was preferring to ignore that the photographs even existed. Hanzo had different opinions of course but he wasn’t going to contradict his father.

His uncle Sota didn’t take the news well. Sota stormed into Sojiro’s office. “Have you seen this?” he nearly shouted. Sojiro sat up straight at his desk and narrowed his eyes and Hanzo looked up from his receipt counting. Genji closed the book he had been reading.

Sota shoved a phone at his father. "Have you seen these photos?" the man snapped.

They all had. He had, his father had, his protesting uncle had, and Genji sure the hell had, given that he was one of the participants in the lewd activities so artistically and enthusiastically documented in pixel form. His shameless brother sat in a chair beside his father's desk, coolly examining his finger nails.

Hanzo wanted to strangle him. His brother again had shamed the family. It wasn't clear who exactly had taken the photos of Genji and the star of the most popular boy band in Japan. But he would be tasked with finding that person and resolve that problem soon enough.

His uncle rounded on Genji. "What's wrong with you? Can't you go one month without causing a problem?"

"It's not a problem," Genji replied. Like butter wouldn't melt in his mouth. "That's my phone, if you'd bothered to examine it. If you had asked me, I would have explained that we were setting up Kai." Genji in his impeccable suit shrugged. "If he doesn't pay our demand -- but, nevermind, he will. These photos would ruin him if they ever got out -- the pop star of the year in an affair with a yakuza."

"See?" Sojiro said, as if Genji had planned this whole thing out and not pulled it out of the air when caught. "My son knows how to make money for the clan."

The uncle exchanged an unbelieving look with Hanzo. He threw up his hands and stormed out, tossing the phone to Hanzo. Sojiro talked with Genji, whose sly look at Hanzo irritated him beyond belief.

These days Hanzo's thoughts were too much tied up with his wayward playboy brother and why he was drifting away from the clan and him. The phone with the fascinating photos sat heavy in his hands. And now all he could think about was the nearly naked Genji clearly enjoying his partner.

His eyes glanced over at Genji smooth-talking their father into a new car as a reward for his work. Genji smirked, like he read Hanzo's inappropriate thoughts. "Hanzo and I have to go. Family business."

"Dinner, tonight," Sojiro said to them both.

In the hallway, Genji asked, "Can I have my phone, brother?"

"Shouldn't the clan hold onto this until the money is paid?" Hanzo shot back.

"Only if you need the inspiration for your own activities, Hanzo," Genji said. He stepped back from Hanzo to give him a heated appraising look. He then leaned closer and whispered in a rough voice, "All you have to do is ask for an in-person demonstration."

Hanzo froze, confused and aware of his now racing heart. Handsome clever Genji with tempting talents stood too close with his sharp eyes focused on Hanzo like he was an animal in a trap. "You are lewd and ridiculous," he whispered back.

"Ha. I'm not the one --" He tugged the phone out of Hanzo's hand. "I'll see you tonight."

"At dinner."

"Sure." Genji laughed in that careless deflecting way that reminded Hanzo of the vast distance between them. "If that's what you mean."

Hanzo said nothing. There was nothing to say. Genji was his brother, not one of the clan's employees. He had to remind himself of that and that Genji would say anything to get out of trouble. That's all that it was.

~~~~~

Sota made a point of meeting up with Hanzo whenever he had the chance. This time it was while Hanzo ate lunch in a corner of the kitchen. “Genji has to be controlled. You know that.”

Hanzo nodded. He didn’t disagree. But how was the question. His father made it clear that he wasn’t going to do something about him. 

“Overwatch is waiting for the right opportunity to tear us down. If Genji falls into the hands of the authorities, who know what will happen to us?”

He let Sota talk. He didn’t disagree with his uncle’s assessment. His brother had to be taught a lesson or two about the clan and brought to heel. 

“Someday you will lead us. Can you afford to have your brother flaunt our rules?”

Hanzo tipped his head back to look at Sota. Sota said nothing. “I see,” Hanzo icily replied. 

“We understand each other, that is a good thing,” Sota agreed.

“I didn’t say that I agreed.”

“I know.” 

Sota left Hanzo to brood sullenly over his noodles. Genji was too much trouble to handle.

~~~~~

A few days later, Sojiro invited Hanzo to a dinner. Hanzo met his father on a private balcony off his father’s quarters at the top of the castle. Dinner was laid out on side tables against the wall and Sojiro quietly read his tablet on the pillows leaning against the intricate balcony railing. Clearly, this was his father’s private space and Hanzo hesitated at the door waiting for a spoken invitation.

Sojiro smiled at him. “Come in,” he said waving Hanzo in. “You can always come in.”

His father had the freedom to say that but Hanzo knew and respected all the unspoken boundaries around him. He sat down at the low table as his father poured him tea. It was an odd thing to have his father wait on him. There was no sign of the usually ever present servants so whatever Sojiro plans to talk about it was for his ears only.

And his father was taking his time getting to the matter at hand, as he talked about a lot of little meaningless things. They went through the main dishes and were on their second pot of tea when Sojiro gave him a wintery smile. “I’ve been thinking of you and your brother.”

“Yes?”

“I fear that you are not understanding how to work with your brother and ignoring his usefulness.”

“Father, Genji is --”

“He is impulsive, reckless, takes significant risks for little rewards, and acts today without considering tomorrow’s consequences.”

“He does not train and lacks discipline,” Hanzo added, glad to hear that his father saw Genji’s many many flaws.

Sojiro gave him a careful look. “Are you sure about that? Have you checked your brother’s form lately?”

Hanzo shook his head dismissively. “He’s sloppy and --” But then he remembered catching his brother at practice and how beautiful Genji was in his movement.

“You are ignoring his usefulness,” Sojiro interrupted. “This was not invitation to complain about your brother.”

“Useful?”

“Genji has a rare talent of working with people. He has emotional strength and loyalty unmatched in your cousins. When the wind blows, he will not collapse like a badly built house. He will give you strength when you need it.”

“That means nothing if he will not work for the clan.”

“That is true too. But you must make the effort to keep him here at your side. Being the oyabun is a terrible job and you are the center of a nest of vipers. You will need Genji’s loyalty.”

“I have uncles and cousins, family.”

“Whose desires and goals are not your own.” Sojiro shifted in his seat. “I have offered Genji a sizable sum of money if he would move to another country and cease to contact us. I have offered this every year since he was eighteen and each year he turns me down. Which means he wants to stay. Think on that.”

His father always surprised him in his planning and foresight. The idea of Genji living somewhere else in the world and out of contact and not troubling the clan floored Hanzo. A problem swiftly and carefully solved. But Genji of course made it difficult by refusing their father’s wise and considered offer. On the other hand, Hanzo was shocked to the core at the possibility of Genji rejecting the clan. He was a born Shimada and he owed the clan everything. 

“Genji has a different way of showing loyalty.”

Sojiro said nothing. He lifted the teapot which turned out to be empty. “We should talk about a date for your wedding.”

“Hinata wishes to be married when the cherry trees are blooming.”

Hanzo spent another half hour with his father talking about easier subjects and plans, letting Genji fade away. Order always reasserts itself. He would have to teach Genji the importance of order but not now. Not when Sojiro was watching and judging his actions.

~~~~~

Hanzo didn’t destroy Genji’s phone. 

Instead, at quiet moments in the dead of night, he flipped through Genji’s pictures. Lots and lots of pictures of Genji everywhere, with friends and strangers, in bars, at parties, in parks, even at a museum. Plenty of smiling and happy women with their arms around Genji’s neck and waist, friends holding up bottles and fingers, Genji at the center of it all. 

Hanzo lingered on one picture of Genji in what had to be a Tokyo bar, his brother with green highlights in his hair and a brilliant smile, a woman in a skimpy dress kissing his cheek on one side and a foreign man in a cowboy hat and a beard on the other side. The man and the woman were ridiculous but Genji was happy. And then the pictures with that singer Kai. Hanzo couldn’t shake the feeling that Genji was in love with that singer, looking at him as they fucked with love and fondness. 

He wanted that. He wanted Genji to look at him with love and friendship and just go back to the way things were before Genji discovered anime and hair dye and the world outside Shimada Castle. Hanzo would give anything for that instead of how things were now.

He threw the phone down and turned over in his bed. He should destroy the phone. He vowed that everytime he looked at the pictures. 

In the morning he would hide the phone again in his room. He couldn’t give up that little part of Genji he owned.

~~~~~

All Hanzo had was work and training and more work when he wasn't training and more training when he wasn't working. He was living up to his father's and his uncles' expectations.

Unlike his flighty and ridiculous brother. Who was no doubt already naked upstairs in the brothel writhing and moaning under a girl or boy or both. Maybe more. Genji's tastes were indiscriminate and terrible.

Hanzo gritted his teeth as he thought of how he wanted to hit his brother, lay him right out on the mats, feel the pulse of Genji's blood running under his hands as he pinned Genji down. Genji would thrust up against his body, trying to free himself from Hanzo's grip, his body twisting and turning and rocking under Hanzo. A shiver ran down Hanzo's back as he shifted uncomfortably in his chair.

His phone rang, shocking him back to work.

A major shipment of arms stolen from Overwatch had been uncovered by the police, leading to the arrest of a number of Shimada clan members and allies.

Riku, his cousin, muttered, “That wasn’t the police.”

“Oh?” Hanzo asked. He had a list of people that had likely betrayed the clan.

“It was Blackwatch. No, you wouldn’t have heard about them -- it’s the black ops division of Overwatch,” Riku answered.

“You don’t want to tangle with them. A nasty group,” Sato spat out.

~~~~

A month after the failed shipment, Hanzo stared at Genji with unbuttoned shirt and loosened tie leaning casually against the counter of sinks in the bathroom. He should be back at the party and the woman he was going to marry. Not here, trapped by Genji's smirks. "You said you had something to say --"

Genji grabbed his shirt and pushed him against the tiled wall. "I won't keep you long, if that's what you're worried about. Being the good boy for the family."

In an hour or two, Hanzo would be expected to take the young male members of his and his intended's families out for a night of drinking at a family-owned club. Genji would disappoint them all by not coming of course; he always had other plans.

His brother stood so close to him that Hanzo could feel his hot breath on his skin, smell his cologne, and glimpse the traces of a lipstick kiss under his left ear. "Have you been keeping up with your training?" Hanzo snarled, angered again by his brother's decadence and lack of control.

"You know that I have," Genji replied. He effortlessly held Hanzo in place, although Hanzo had lost the ability to move when Genji put a hand on his hip. "I bet you're going somewhere safe tonight."

"Karaoke. Where else would we go?"

His head slammed against the wall when Genji's other hand brushed over his crotch, sending sparks down his spine. Genji nudged his legs apart so that he could palm Hanzo's fast stiffening cock. "A strip club for one thing."

"It's business, Genji. Family obligation," Hanzo snapped. He hated how he was letting his brother take control of him like this, like he was something helpless and weak. Not the heir of a powerful yakuza clan, not a man who commanded at least a hundred assassins, thieves and conmen at the snap of his fingers. And what was worse -- he didn't even try to fight off his brother and he even shifted his body to let Genji have better access.

Genji mocked, "Poor little all-business-all-the-time Hanzo. Never a day off or a minute of fun. Always jumping to do whatever Father or the uncles want you to do."

His hand rubbed over Hanzo's clothed cock. Clever shameless Genji who knew exactly what he was doing. Hanzo tensed as Genji's fingers picked open his belt buckle and unzipped his dress pants. His hand circled around his cock, pulling it out. He ran his hand up and down Hanzo's length.

Genji leaned to talk into Hanzo's ear. "Know what I'm going to do while you suffer? I'm going out to a sex club looking for a pretty girl or boy to fuck, or maybe fuck me. Whatever happens." His hand moved faster.

Hanzo could imagine finding his brother in the morning laid out in his bed fucked and hung-over covered in spunk, glitter, lipstick and alcohol. "You shame the clan. You shame your family. You ignore your obligations and work."

Genji viciously tugged on Hanzo, forcing a low moan out of Hanzo. "I wouldn't be so fast to condemn me right now, brother," he hissed.

Hanzo had no control over his moans as his thighs shook and something hot and tense coiled in his stomach. Genji was unrelenting with his hands, as if he knew exactly what Hanzo desperately needed from him.

Someone jiggled the door handle to the bathroom.

They were about to be discovered. Hanzo tried to spring away, but Genji pushed him back into place. "Like you should be worried," he spat out. "Everyone wins if we are found. You win because I'll be disowned, uncles pleased because I won't be around, my disappearance would make so many people happy."

"Genji -- don't think --"

"Wait, Father would be so disappointed. You don't want that, do you? That's the only thing you're really afraid of. Other people being disappointed with you."

"Don't talk about Father when we're --, you know."

Genji laughed harshly.

And whoever was at the door went away. "You locked the door," Hanzo accused Genji.

"You think I'd be so stupid to forget to do that?"

Hanzo bit his lip to hold back his moans as Genji now worked him harder with both hands. His blood raced and his heart beat fast as he moved closer to the edge. Genji knew exactly what buttons to push and he watched Hanzo's face intently. He smiled in triumph as Hanzo moaned his release.

Weak and dizzy from pleasure, Hanzo was barely able to keep standing. He had never had a better hand job in his life. But he really shouldn't have found how talented his brother was or enjoyed this brief moment of connection so much. Genji toweled him off and tucked him back into his pants.

Genji kissed Hanzo's forehead. He then trailed his fingers down Hanzo's face. "I liked it better when your hair was longer."

"What is wrong with you?" Hanzo asked. "You could do so much for the family."

Genji had buttoned up his shirt, straightened his tie, and finger combed his colored hair into place. He was now as distant from Hanzo as the sun was from the moon. "You presume that I want to be part of the family and the family business, Hanzo. You think that is the only way for us. But it's not."

He left the bathroom and Hanzo even more angry that Hanzo thought possible.

~~~~~

Now that Sato had a sense of Hanzo’s thoughts, he picked at Genji when talking to Hanzo, outside Sojiro’s hearing. Others did as well, little comments about how Genji failed the clan, his attitude, his faults. Hanzo listened more than he should, finally hearing from others what he had thought for so long.

Another couple of shipments had been confiscated by the police. The clan was on edge. It had cost a fortune to steal the arms from Overwatch to begin with and now they owed customers more money than they had been paid. Talon was refusing to work with them.

Hanzo was meeting with his father to figure out how to stop Blackwatch. “Sato says that Genji failed to consider --”

Sojiro drew himself up tall and commanding in his chair. “I raised you to be smarter than that, Hanzo.”

His father’s reprimand stuck him hard. Hanzo couldn’t look at him.

“Your brother is one of your best weapons in this world -- he can do the things that you cannot. He can talk with your allies to keep them on your side, figure out when your enemies will attack. He can tell you what your men are thinking. And here you are underestimating his value.”

“Father --”

“Shut up. I cannot believe that you would be so stupid as to listen to the worst of your uncles. Sato of all people. Think on this, Hanzo -- who benefits if the clan leader is weakened and has none of his own allies?”

Hanzo didn’t reply. He didn’t think his father was asking a question. He took a breath, regrouped, and started over. “I have a lead --”

Sojiro snapped. “Go, follow it. Now. Get out of my sight.”

~~~~~

Sojiro Shimada was found dead the next morning from a heart attack. Hanzo stood in shock as an aunt gave him and Genji the news. He regretted that last conversation with his father and that it ended in anger.

It was Genji who organized the funeral, made all the arrangements, handled notifications and everything else regarding laying their father to rest. He was excellent at it, suavely handling any bumps or annoyed relatives along the way. Hanzo made his appearances as requested. 

He sat in his father’s office, not ready to claim it for his own. Notes in his father’s handwriting covered the top of the desk, messages from a man not planning on dying. He would have people clean up the room later.

Genji came in. As if reading Hanzo’s mind, he said, “I can clean up the desk, while you are at dinner with the clan.”

“Yes, that would be helpful.”

“Come back after dinner, and we’ll drink to his memory. He had a special bottle of whiskey for your wedding. Maybe it’s better that we drink it now.”

His father was right, Genji could be a comfort. He couldn’t lose Genji now. “Thank you,” he said quietly. 

~~~~~

His father had been dead for a week now. And Hanzo had been drinking that high end sake he loved. Nothing was filling that empty void in his soul. Nothing. 

Genji was home. He knew that from his brother’s texts.

Having absolutely no inhibitions now, all Hanzo could feel was want. He wanted Genji, wanted that Genji who smiled and danced and fucked with joy and love in those pictures on the phone, wanted Genji for once to obey him and be that brother he should be. If Genji would just do as he was told. 

He ached from the want and the desire and the anger and the need. Nothing was going to resolve his pain unless ….

Hanzo found himself standing outside Genji's door. No one would question him at all for being there, even if it's 2:30 in the morning. He was only there to tell Genji that he needs to step up, do his part for the family business, and never die his hair green again. That was all he was asking from his brother.

Before he knocked, Genji opened the door. He has had a rough night and his once clean dress shirt was stained and open all the way down to his waist and he looked utterly debauched. Hanzo can't tear his eyes away from his brother's exposed body, lean and cut and nothing he expected. Ideas about what other people had done to Genji already that night swam around his head.

"Are you in or out?" Genji asked wearily. He didn't look like he's willing to give Hanzo another minute to make up his mind. He pushed hair out of his eyes, sighed deeply, and went to shut the door.

Hanzo stood on a knife edge -- he should go, now. He steps through that door and he has no idea what he'll be like when he leaves.

But the insatiable want and need eat away at him.

Genji lifted his chin, and coolly appraised Hanzo from head to toe. And that was all Hanzo needed, that heated invitation to something he couldn’t name but desperately wanted. He pushed the door open, forcing Genji to drop his hand and step backwards.

Hanzo rushed in, tapped the door shut and slammed Genji into the wall. He had a split second to escape and flee. But his traitorous body betrayed him as he groped and clawed at Genji trying to find relief and friction. He was trapped now.

“Stop,” Genji insisted, pulling Hanzo’s hands off him. 

He locked the door while Hanzo leaned against the wall for support. Genji then turned up his music, loud enough to drown out any noise or conversation. No one would complain about the noise. Genji had that much influence at least.

“What do you want, Hanzo?” 

He couldn’t speak, his voice and all his will had disappeared like a moth in flame. He grabbed Genji again, pulling him close. He attempted to kiss Genji away, who ducked him. 

“Not until you tell me what you want.”

“You. I want you,” Hanzo croaked, his voice harsh as he spoke his deepest want. “To fuck me.”

Genji tipped his head to the side. “Hanzo -- you don’t --”

“Shut up and go to work,” he snarled. 

He wanted what he had seen in those photos, wanted to forget his other life on the other side of that door. Genji was the only one who could make him forget. He stared down Genji, until Genji broke under his unspoken demands. 

They didn’t say another word as Genji helped Hanzo strip out of his clothes, fumbling with buttons and zippers and underwear. Genji guided him down to his bed, Hanzo unable to make a decision or a move of his own, lost in Genji’s touch and taste. He could barely look at Genji, now unclothed as well, but let him do whatever he wanted. 

Japanese pop songs echoed in his brain as Genji pushed him over on his knees. Genji moved his legs apart and slid his lube-coated fingers into him. Hanzo shook from the new sensations he had, his brother’s clever fingers moving in and out of him. His head hung down, sweat breaking out on his skin, as Genji positioned himself behind him. 

He had never felt this way, out of control and completely at the mercy of another person. Each thrust pushed him into the bed, forcing moans out of him, leaving him an uncontrolled mess. Pressure coiled up in his stomach as Genji moved his body, his untouched cock thick and hard and desperate for touch. Genji generously reached around to tug on him. 

Their ragged breaths and sound of skin catching and hitting skin filled Hanzo’s ears. He wanted more and more and Genji was talented and perfect and was hitting spots in his body he never knew he needed touched. Genji thrust harder now, working Hanzo over just the way Hanzo wanted.

Then he came suddenly and his sight whited out as his shaking body collapsed on the bed in a daze of overwhelming sensation. He had some thought that Genji was now lying next to him. But all he could feel that finally his need was satiated, the want quiet after all these months. 

He had peace and control back. 

Hanzo immediately sprang up from the bed, not looking back at Genji or saying anything. He cleaned himself up with a sheet. And left.

~~~~~

After all that, nothing changed. Having sex with his brother hadn’t made a single jot of difference. Genji didn’t change. Hanzo didn’t. And Genji was slipping again out of his hands.

It was like Genji was a boat being taken out to sea further and further with each wave. Hanzo couldn’t put it into words better than that. Genji came to family meetings, completed his business as ordered, and gave counsel if Hanzo asked. But it wasn’t close to what Genji had done before Sojiro’s death.

A month after their father’s death, Hanzo accompanied Genji on a hit. It was Genji’s job, perfectly designed for his skills. They waited in an empty apartment for the mark to stumble home. A small time bookie who had fallen so far behind in his debts that he had looked for safety with the police and turned on the Shimada. Cousin Riku had asked for a clan response, something dramatic and newsworthy to warn others about crossing the clan. 

Genji was checking his katana, a picture of patience for once. Hanzo longed for coffee or something stronger. He’d fallen all too easily into a habit of drinking sake night after night. 

“It is good to be working a job with you, Genji. It has been too long.”

Genji gave him that wintery smile, the one that never reached his eyes. It struck Hanzo hard. “It has been.”

“We should do this more often,” Hanzo offered. He had to bring Genji back to him. Genji belonged to the clan as much as he did.

“But you are the oyabun now. You shouldn’t even be here,” Genji rightfully pointed out.

Hanzo shrugged. “Look -- a light.”

Ten minutes later and the bookie was no more. Genji had struck swiftly and left no sign but a slit throat and the mark of the Shimada. 

Back to the castle, Hanzo invited Genji back to his office for a drink. They talked for awhile about childhood memories. For once, it was just them, Hanzo and Genji, brothers remembering the same things and events and people. 

Maybe he had Genji back in the fold now. “There’s a shipment coming -- we could meet it in Jakarta, just like we did when Father trusted us with our first job.”

The light went off in Genji’s eyes and his body closed up. “No. You need to stay here, Hanzo. You might have inherited the clan leadership, but that doesn’t mean that you are recognized as the leader. You have a lot of work to do.”

It rubbed Hanzo wrong that Genji was right in his advice. Hanzo had already put down two challenges to his rule. But he didn’t like the feeling of losing Genji. Maybe he should visit Genji again like he had after his father’s death. Maybe sex was all that they had now together.

Genji stood up and put his glass down on the table. “I do not like that look, Hanzo. If I were to venture a guess, I would say that you are thinking of something ill-advised.”

“Are you questioning me?” Hanzo snapped.

“No. Never.” 

In the end, it was nothing had ever happened between them since Genji’s pictures had been discovered. But in two weeks, nothing Genji ever did mattered again to Hanzo.

~~~~~

Hanzo had important meetings that day, including an obligatory meeting with an ancient aunt. Haru insisted he had to meet with her and Hanzo agreed, if only to buy some peace from a nagging Haru.

Aoi didn't live in the castle compound with the rest of the Shimada, but kept a small carefully decorated apartment in Hanamura proper. Hanzo had not seen her in months.

He sat in his chair as Aoi poured tea elegantly into the cups. Everything about her from her modest sheath dress with the heavy gold necklace to the twist of her wrist as she handed him the cup was precise, calculated and perfect. The order calmed his soul and he drank the tea, inhaling the scent like it was medicine. Aoi sat back in her chair, crossing her arms on her lap. 

"So, what brings the Shimada oyabun to me?" she asked. 

"Haru said that I had neglected my duty as nephew."

"Ah. Business then," She nodded, then pursed her lips. She reached for a sweet on the tray. "It's a shame that Genji is the smart one."

Hanzo arched his eyebrow. Now he remembered why he avoided Aoi and her savage view of the world. 

She sat back, resuming her proper seat, knowing that she had laid the first blow. "Where is your brother?"

Hanzo thought of the night before, of leaving Genji angry and sated behind in his bedroom. A last attempt to hold onto Genji. "A club or some frivolous activity, no doubt," he replied flatly.

"Oh, but he's not at club, oyabun. Everyone knows that." 

"Fine." Hanzo shrugged. "He's at an orgy."

Aoi gave him a cat-like smile with no warmth and all teeth. "He's meeting with Blackwatch agents. He's been doing that for months." 

The world shattered around Hanzo and he scrambled to hold himself together. "Genji is incapable -- he's flighty and useless."

She put a hand on his arm. "As I said, it's a shame that Genji is the smart one." The killing blow came swift and Hanzo never even felt it.

~~~~~

The clan leadership was right. Genji had to either vow allegiance to the clan anew or pay in blood. No one other than Aoi or Sota knew about Genji’s betrayal. Assuming that Genji had betrayed them. Hanzo still clung to the idea that Genji maybe had some ill-advised drinks with some low-level agents.

That didn’t change the simple fact that Genji owed his life and very existence to the clan and there had to be reckoning for his reckless and bad behavior. A nail popping out of its place could injure a foot or tear expensive cloth and needed to be hammered back into place. Genji was that nail.

At the clan meeting, Haru was the first to say. “Hanzo, command us and we will take care of Genji.” A chorus of voices agreed to help.

“Take care?” Hanzo asked, arching an eyebrow.

“If your brother chafes with his obligations, then he must be made to obey. But I fear that he is beyond correction and he must pay with with his life,” Sota said.

They were reasonable. Genji could not be trusted. “I have given him every possible chance,” Hanzo agreed. “But death?”

Two hours of arguing and all the clan agreed than Genji must die. Numb and stung by Genji’s recklessness, Hanzo found himself agreeing. The clan was the most important thing and no one should be allowed to undermine it. 

Hanzo, the young oyabun, a man who would marry soon and have his own sons, who had been destined since birth to rule the clan, knew in his bones and soul that he had to protect the clan. Genji had become too unruly and uncontrolled and dangerous. It had to end. 

“I will see to Genji,” Hanzo stated.

The clan leadership bowed low to him and dispersed. He had gone to Genji’s room once and knew that he would be different when he left. He was stronger for it. He was at peace and now needed to assert that order so essential for a good and productive life. 

Hanzo wished that his father had had done this years ago instead of insisting that Genji had some value. The Shimada stood hundreds strong. He would find new advisors, new people with the strength and wisdom he needed, from the clan. 

“Tell my brother to meet me in the great hall so that we may honor our father,” he ordered a servant. 

~~~~~

Genji was waiting for him. Hanzo coolly watched him, assessing his movement and state of mind. Unarmed, dressed in casual clothes, open and not expecting Hanzo’s plans. He had laid out some offerings for their father, ready to follow ancient practice. 

Hanzo had ordered the servants to bar the door and no one to interrupt, no matter what they heard. “Genji, I met with the clan this afternoon about you.”

“Oh? I guess that’s to be expected,” Genji replied, already trying his smooth-talk, always at the ready to get out of trouble.

Hanzo had planned to give Genji an offer to take his own life before Hanzo acted. It would be the honorable thing to do. But there was something in Genji’s defiant eyes that hardened Hanzo’s heart. And to be honest, Genji had already forfeited any opportunity for honor, given that he betrayed the clan to Blackwatch.

“It ends now,” Hanzo stated simply. 

He rushed at the unprepared Genji. Hanzo was the better swordsman if only because he practiced, not Genji. The first attack cut deep into Genji’s right arm and the next thrust cut into his right shoulder and neck.

Genji slipped in his own blood as he struggled to get to his feet. He grabbed at Hanzo. “Please, Hanzo, don’t do this.” Genji managed to trip Hanzo before he attacked a third time.

Hanzo shoved Genji down. He took a breath, feeling for the first time that it was going to be far more difficult to kill his brother than he thought. Genji had skill and talent and drive that Hanzo had underestimated. And he refused to lose to his brother. 

He summoned the dragons and walked away from his brother’s screams. Sliding the doors behind him, Hanzo commanded the frightened servants. “Go in there in ten minutes and clean up what you find.”

(Years later, he realized that he did not know who the servants were that night and that he didn’t see the hovering transport just outside the castle fence.)

Hanzo sent for Riku. “Tell the clan that the deed is done,” he commanded his cousin. “The clan is safe and secure.”

~~~~~

In a week, it was like Genji had never existed. His room and belongings cleared out and one of the innumerable cousins moved in. Hanzo passed by once and half-way expected to hear that terrible electronic music Genji loved so much playing. But it was only silence.

Hanzo had the comfort of his well-loved high end sake that week. They buried Genji, redistributed all his responsibilities, and moved on. Gone like the cherry blossoms in the spring. 

Sota and Haru now sat in his office where he and Genji once sat when his father was alive. But they didn’t listen respectfully to him, instead pushed him to take riskier and more dangerous work. And Hanzo gave in easily. They made sense, his uncles. The Shimada had to restore their honor and their reputation and their control. He ordered death and debts to be recovered and shouted and raged when people didn’t jump at his command.

They would learn. He would make them. 

Another week, and he noticed that Sota had cleverly taken over control of the arms trade. Not that this was Sota’s strength. And Sota should have talked to him first. Then there was the matter of his father’s advisor, Kaito’s assassination. “Sota, you have claimed something not yours to claim,” Hanzo stated.

Sota, brimming with confidence and defiant, laughed. “Someone has to do the work, oyabun.” He made the title sound like an insult.

“Still --”

“And?” Sota sat back in his chair, steepling his fingers, his face calm and composed. “I have done so much for you, Hanzo. You owe me, not the other way around.”

“You should not talk to me like that.”

“You are still a boy, when your father was a man. You needed someone to tell you what to do about Genji. You need me more now that ever.”

The meeting didn’t end well for Hanzo. And it got worse for Hanzo as he made his inquiries about Sota’s activities and saw how much Sota had wormed his way into control of the clan, to the point of undermining his own authority. 

Drunk on sake and guilt, Hanzo was haunted by his father’s wise advice about Genji’s strength. If Genji was there, he would have been shield against Sota. If Hanzo had only see it sooner. But still, Genji had betrayed the clan. Nothing could erase that fact.

Hanzo fell to his feet in front of the shrine in the great hall and the banner stained with Genji’s blood. He clumsily lit his incense, laid down a sparrow feather and thought hard on what he had to do.

He had given up everything for control and now he had nothing. And the Shimada were nothing, and his life was nothing.

What would Genji have done? If he were in Hanzo’s shoes?

Hanzo smiled bleakly but with peace. He put his chipped katana down in the shrine and took his bow. And made the escape from Shimada Castle that Genji had always wanted.


End file.
